I think this film is the journey of a twenty year old boy finally becoming a man. But I'm not sure. If this is what the film is supposed to be about, I don't think it fully succeeded.

The movie starts with the image of the fully grown lead actor, Jody, played by Tyrese Gibson, sleeping in his mother's womb. The narration states that a psychologist has a theory that black men are stuck in an immature or 'baby' phase. The call their residence a crib. They call their girlfriends mama. They call their friends their boys. And etc.

I think this film adds to the theory by stating that many of the women in the film have their children without a father present, and at a very young age. This forces babies to raise babies, with never a mature figure in sight. I believe Jody's mother is only supposed to be thirty three, which means she had Jody when she only thirteen.

Jody, has two babies with two different women, and is still sleeping with both regularly. He lives at home with his mother, and doesn't seem to see any need to get a job. At least one of his girlfriends has a good job, and so apparently does his mother. None of Jody's male friends seem to work.

I thought all the women in Singleton's "Boys in the Hood" were bad. Many disagree with me, but for the most part they were all bad role models or had problems. In "Baby Boy", even though the women are the ones with jobs and seem to be willing to put out some effort in raising a family, this movie doesn't show woman in that much better of a light than "Boys". Of the three main women, at least two I wonder about their strength of character. Jody's mother had her baby a little too early in her life, but she seems to have it together now. The other two women have babies as well, and seem to accept being strung along by Jody, and I can't tell why? Jody doesn't seem to be that good of a father, or a boyfriend. He even refers to his two girlfriends as "his baby's mama". This really sounds like he considers them to be in a secondary position.

Although I don't remember it being mentioned during the film, there is a large disparity in many black communities of available men and women due to violence and prisons taking away so many young black males out of circulation. Maybe it is more common than I would have thought for black men having being multiple fathers with various women. It should also be noted that by his admission, the writer / director John Singleton has fathered five children by four different mothers.

Ving Rhames made this movie for me. Without him in the film, I may have taken away a whole star off my rating. He has such a presence in the film that I'm surprised he hasn't starred in a series of Shaft-type movies yet. Here he plays angry, manipulative, caring, and when he isn't playing any emotion in particular, he just has a presence that cameras love.

There is a scene where Jody is questioning Ving about his upcoming date with his mother. Ving is polite, but still seems to be acting somewhat condescending. Jody says to his friend that Ving always seems to be playing these mind games, and I agree with him! I think he was, and they were very effective.

Singleton says that he initially wanted to do this movie years ago, and was going to have Tupac Shakur play the lead. But then he was killed in Las Vegas, and the movie has been shelved all this time. We do get a rap star in this film, Snoop Doggy Dog, who just didn't work at all for me, considering the role he was playing. He was supposed to be Jody's girlfriend's ex-boyfriend who has just been released from prison. He wasn't threatening at all, which I think he was supposed to be. He is a small man with a small voice, and he seemed stoned all the time, even when his character wasn't supposed to be smoking any pot.

Also, "Boys in the Hood" was Cuba Gooding Jr.'s first role, and he has gone on to do excellent work since. "Baby Boy" gives us Omar Gooding, who is Cuba's brother. He played Jody's good friend, who probably was supposed to represent the criminal element that Jody has been able to avoid so far, but just barely. Omar isn't a hardcore criminal, but carries his guns, and knows how to deal with punks who beat and rob Jody in one scene. One scene has him shooting somebody, and it is obvious that he has killed people before. Although not a bad character, I could see why he and Jody were friends. They seem to have different lives, live far apart from one another, and had little in common. Their influence seemed to be minimal upon one another.

I think the movie fails for me because I don't think we really see Jody grow up. Even if he moves out of his mother's house and goes to live with his girlfriend, I doubt that he has really stopped his philandering ways, will get a job, or will marry his girlfriend. In an earlier scene we see Jody start to get income by buying clothing that is stolen, and then sells it in a local beauty parlor. It is actually a very convincing scene, but we never see or here anything about it afterwards. At one point he tells his girlfriend that she is probably the woman he is going to marry. I don't think he wants to get tied down, even at the end of the film.

One scene where he did seem to grow a little is when he is talking to his mother about how his girlfriend is driving him crazy. She tries to point out to him how she must feel being left in a hot apartment to watch the baby while he goes out and sleeps with other women. At first he is angry with his mother for not taking her side. Then she asks him how he would feel if someone treated her that way. The look on his face travels from anger to understanding, and we realize that there is some hope for him. I wish the movie had more scenes like that one.




Recommended:
No

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older